Barbecue grills, and in particular gas grills, have become increasingly popular in recent years. Conventionally, gas grills consist of a cart or frame that supports a firebox. The gas grills include a burner assembly adjacent to a lower portion of the firebox and a cooking grid supported along the upper edge ofthe firebox. The firebox usually includes a hinged cover to create a cooking chamber. Typically, lava rock is disposed between the cooking grid and the burner assembly. The lava rock, acting as a form of a conductive member, absorbs the heat from the burning gas and provides a generally uniform heat producing means for the food being cooked. Alternatively, the firebox may contain a metal barrier, such as sear bars positioned between the cooking grid and the gas burners, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,964.
Other gas grill features that have become popular are side burners and work surfaces. A side burner is an auxiliary cooking surface located outside the cooking chamber. These side burners are usually disposed next to the cooking chamber on the grill frame, such as that which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,677,964 and 4,777,927, both assigned to the Assignee of the present invention. The side burner is often desirable because it allows certain food items to be cooked separately from and simultaneously with the food items being cooked within the cooking chamber. To protect the burner from environmental conditions and for safety reasons, the side burner is usually provided with a burner cover.
One or more work surfaces are also desirable and convenient because they provide a surface upon which food and food preparation items, such as spices, sauces, utensils, plates, etc., can be placed while the food is being prepared. These work surfaces are also usually disposed immediately adjacent to the cooking chamber on the grill frame. A work surface may also be provided extended outward from the front of the barbecue grill cart, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,776 and co-pending application Ser. No. 09/374,821, filed on Aug. 13, 1999, pending both assigned to the Assignee of the present invention, Weber-Stephen Products Company.
Due to size limitations of a gas grill and space constraints on the grill frame, it is often difficult to accommodate more than one of these features within the grill, particularly when these features are desired in the same grill and are disposed immediately adjacent to the cooking chamber.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a work surface having a slide track mechanism that allows the work surface to be moved to a use position. It is further an object of the invention to provide a side burner cover that is slidable to expose the burner and also serve as a work surface for food preparation.